Work/Life and Family Resources

The MIT Center for WorkLife and WellBeing

The MIT Center for WorkLife and WellBeing offers a range of programs and services to help manage school, work, life, and family responsibilities while at MIT. The Center provides support and helps graduate students, faculty, staff, postdoc associates and postdoc fellows (along with their partners and adult household members) meet their personal and professional needs in all phases of life. For more information, send an email or call 617-253-1592, Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

MIT Center for WorkLife and WellBeing Resources and Referrals

Personalized assistance, resources, and referrals on a broad range of issues are available at no cost to MIT graduate students (and their partners and families) through MIT GAIN—the Graduate Assistance and Information Network. MIT GAIN services include:

  • Legal consultation
  • Financial consultation
  • Child care resources and personalized research and referrals
  • Elder care resources and personalized research and referrals
  • Relocation guidance
  • School/summer camp selection for children in grades K–12
  • Nutrition counseling
  • Career assessment
  • Resources for other life concerns, such as moving services, home repair and cleaning services, pet care, fitness programs and trainers, and more.

Personalized assistance, resources, and referrals are available via phone or email, 24 hours a day, seven days a week for graduate students and their household members.

Seminar Series and Webinars

The MIT Center for WorkLife and WellBeing offers research-based seminars and webinars throughout the year on topics related to parenting children of all ages, personal and financial wellbeing, navigating work and life as a young professional, and senior care.

Backup Child Care for Students

MIT offers a program of subsidized backup child care for MIT graduate students as part of our support for student families. This program is sponsored by the Office of Graduate Education and administered by the MIT Center for WorkLife and WellBeing.

Subsidized backup child care is available through Care.com at a cost of $5.00 per hour for in-home care and $10.00 per day, per child for in-center care. MIT graduate students can request up to 15 days of backup child care per academic year (July 1–June 30). Unused days of care will not carry forward into the new academic year.

Backup child care providers or in-center care can assist when normal child care or school arrangements are disrupted by school closings, vacations, provider illness, or when a child is mildly ill. Backup care can also help cover child care needs at times when care is not normally available, for example, to allow students to attend MIT events, student government meetings or conferences, or to study for exams.

Registration is required.

Technology Childcare Centers

MIT’s child care system, Technology Childcare Centers (TCC), includes four locations—three centers on campus and one near MIT Lincoln Laboratory in Lexington—that accommodate infants, toddlers, and preschoolers.

Each TCC child care center is a dynamic and nurturing multicultural environment where children participate in adventures that promote invention and discovery. TCC is managed by Bright Horizons Family Solutions in partnership with the MIT Center for WorkLife and WellBeing.

For more information and to apply, visit the Technology Childcare Centers website.

Lactation Support

MIT is dedicated to meeting the needs of nursing mothers. The MIT Center for WorkLife and WellBeing spearheads efforts to create lactation rooms across campus (there are currently ~27 rooms) and has put together helpful breastfeeding tips and resources online.